For a team with the second-lowest home attendance in baseball, the Oakland Athletics sure have a lot of stadium offers.

San Jose and Oakland are both plowing forward with plans to build a state-of-the-art ballpark for the A's with little public financing and loads of amenities. On Tuesday, Oakland's plan was poised for a significant step forward, while San Jose's suffered a setback.

In Oakland, about 200 green-and-gold clad A's fans packed a planning commission meeting to support the city's plans for a waterfront stadium near Jack London Square. The public input wraps up preliminary steps before the city launches an environmental impact report.

Meanwhile, in San Jose, the city missed its Tuesday deadline to place the A's stadium on the March ballot. Voters need to approve the use of city land for the ballpark, which is slated for the downtown area near the Sharks' hockey arena.

In the end, it will be Major League Baseball officials who decide which stadium is built. A special commission has been considering for almost two years whether to grant A's owner Lew Wolff's request to move the team to San Jose, where the San Francisco Giants currently hold the league's territorial rights.

Fervid A's fans made their case Tuesday for keeping the team in its home of 43 years.

"We're here to look the city in the face and say, 'We want to get this done as badly as you do,' " said lifelong A's fan Maurice Greer, 29, of El Cerrito. "The A's are to Oakland like how Lake Merritt is to Oakland. It's beautiful, it's pride."

Oakland's proposed ballpark would be on the Embarcadero at Oak Street. The 20-acre site would include a 39,000-seat stadium, parking lot and possibly retail, housing and office space. The site is near the Lake Merritt BART station and Interstate 880.

As with San Jose's plan, the city would provide the land and infrastructure and the team would pay for the stadium.

If it's built, the ballpark would open in 2015.

The city's hearing Tuesday was a "milestone" for keeping the A's in Oakland, said Planning Commissioner Doug Boxer .

"It demonstrates the city's willingness to move forward with a baseball-only home for the A's," he said. "It shows Oakland is stepping up."

A baseball-only stadium is what Wolff desperately wants for his team. The A's share the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum with the Raiders, and complain of torn-up grass and an awkward configuration that discourages players and fans alike.

San Jose's plan for the A's calls for a 32,000-seat ballpark on a 14-acre site near a Cal Train station downtown. Retail, housing and office space would also accompany the stadium, which, like Oakland's, is a redevelopment project.

San Jose is postponing the stadium ballot measure until Major League Baseball decides on the Athletics' new home, said Michele McGurk, spokeswoman for Mayor Chuck Reed.

"We're waiting and eager to hear from Major League Baseball," she said. "We think we have one of the best sports markets in the country, and we're ready to play ball."